Consider this a test for long-term couples who appreciate the horror genre: Settle in with your significant other and stream Together. The 2025 indie hit has now made its online premiere via Hulu. Outwardly, it may seem like conventional biological terror, but within Together exists a deep examination about the ways we decide to love each other.
A Debut Feature Investigating Partnership Complexities
Together represents the first full-length movie for director Michael Shanks. It features the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Millie and Tim, an unmarried couple that have been together for a decade. Having wed in actuality in 2017, the two stars contribute a unique chemistry to their roles, skillfully embodying both the good and bad of a long-term relationship.
The narrative starts when Tim and Millie relocate from the urban environment to the countryside for professional reasons. A familiar story element, sure, but that’s primarily where the conventions conclude. Together becomes as much a deep dive into the psyche of the couple's dynamic as it is a film about physical terror.
A Supernatural Catalyst
While trekking near their rural residence, a storm hits, and Millie and Tim fall into an subterranean cavern. After a night spent there and finally finding a way out, a mysterious influence takes hold of the pair. This force compels a supernatural closeness between them that goes exceeding emotional intimacy.
The entire film is a gradually intensifying of scares, blending moments of dreamlike terrors, disturbing (but never too gross) physical transformations, and genuinely funny exchanges (sometimes amidst something grotesque). Shanks weaves these elements together seamlessly and wraps them up in a gradually swelling aura of dread.
Nuanced Portrayals
A great deal of Together is exclusively Brie and Franco, and they deftly portray numerous complexities to the partnership at the film's core. Millie’s confidence and feeling of intimacy is deteriorating due to a distance. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his hesitance to focus on anything other than his failing musical ambitions gradually emerges.
Tim, on the other hand senses confinement and separated by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve moved to the country and far away from his social circle. He dreads the notion of totally forfeiting his personal autonomy in his partner. This fear is further exacerbated by the reality he lacks a driver's license and needs Millie for getting around.
The film's most intelligent aspect in Together refrains from painting one partner or the other the clear bad guy.
Both characters grapple with the kind of problems that come with long-term unions over a long period. Deep down, they still love one another. They still laugh together, comfort one another, and open up at times. But below this facade, there’s an inescapable feeling of questioning about their future together.
Symbolism and Metaphor
While the otherworldly presence in Together act as a metaphor for these concerns of excessive reliance and totally devoting oneself to a partner, the symbolism does not come across as hamfisted or self-important. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments present a perfect parallel to the relationship narrative. Both the supernatural and the personal serve the other in harmony.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s ending, which is best experienced firsthand, has left audiences divided on the movie's final takeaway about unhealthy partnerships. Reports indicate that unattached audience members have seen the movie as a powerful case for remaining unattached. On the other hand, certain partners who were in conflict found that the film actually helped them resolve their issues.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own reaction could potentially serve as a great barometer of how you think about commitment. Will the finale inspire anxiety and horror, or a positive outlook on love? Will you recognize your own traits in Tim or Millie and yell at the screen, or simply glance toward your significant other and say, “I’d do that for you”?
No matter your reaction, Together is an test you can undertake right now.
Together is currently playing on Hulu at present.
